Geranium Wars

This morning was pure madness in the German retail sector.  Not because of market trends or a shift in meat pricing but simply because geraniums went on sale.  Now I've journaled about the beloved balcony flower before but I hadn't really touched on the whole gardening part of the story.

I was thinking about re-naming the flower "Germanium," as in a funny little play on the words "German" and "Geranium."  But as it turns out, there already is such a thing as Germanium which is apparently some sort of magic element that doesn't know if it's a metal or not.  Wow.  Whoever would've thought that whole periodic table thingy would actually show back up in life again.  Nutty.

Anyway.

Normally I avoid any type of sale like the plague since I'm just not into full body wrestling in order to save a few bucks.  I'm pretty much the kind of person who's willing to spend a bit more and tolerate the milder German shopping clientele where all you'll  get is a cart jacked up the back of your heels once or twice along with heavy sighs of impatience if you're purchasing more than the average German daily shopper does.

The trick with gardening is you've got to watch where the old folks go.  These people have wisdom and it's safe to assume that if there's a traffic jam of walkers and canes, the plants are probably pretty darn good and affordable.  And I had walked smack into a geriatric convention.  Less than 15 minutes after the store had opened, entire carts full of 10-plant trays were empty.  Swiped clean! 

So although I happened to be at this store for a whole different reason it suddenly occurred to me after five years of living in this country, that I wanted my geraniums too!!! 

I got out my elbows.  And I went in.  Very quickly I realized that the ones I was after were scarce.  Until I noticed that way down low on the wheeled carts, way down by the ankles, were packages that the elderly just couldn't get to.  Imagine my glee!  Then the shame truck hit me realizing that it's probably fundamentally wrong to benefit from other people's physical limitations.  So after tucking a couple boxes into my basket, I got down on my knees in the store and pulled out and re-merchandised all the rest of the plants so that the individuals a couple decades older than me could actually access them.  (Note to self:  check off "good deed for the day").  This reduced my guilty feeling of grabbing the healthiest of the flowers for myself.

Now it's here in the story where I did the unthinkable.  I attempted to engage strangers in conversation. 

I was a little skeptical if it isn't actually too early to plant these annuals.  And there's nothing I hate more than putting effort into a dirty job where I've got to scrub out my nails and then they die on me.  So I whipped out the one German gardening term that I know in an attempt to impress two of the ladies next to me.  I asked them about Eisheiligen.  Dang I felt like hot shit.  These ladies eyes lit up and it didn't matter that I spoke with a wacky accent.  I was suddenly a young gardening protege with potential!!  Off they went telling me about frost and covering plants with newspaper at night.  Discussion ensued over whether or not it's too early to have them on a balcony with an overhang, close to the house where we'll outsmart father frost.  It was awesome.  I thanked them while flashing my big toothy American smile and trotted up to the cashier with 30 little sprouts of potential.  Dang, maybe I am practically  famous after all.  What a great morning!!

Comments

[Linda]

Your post made me smile. Love the photo as well.

[Fiona]

I love that post. And yes, it's got to be ok to benefit from others limitations if you go on and perform such a lovely good deed! Yay, you!

[robin]

I enjoy your wit so much TJ!

[TJ]

I sort of cringed writing that I took the best plants for me, but I was taught to look for plants that have a lot of small things coming out... NOT the ones that are currently blooming! That's what I meant...! LOL

[Tammy]

I really enjoy your perspective on the quirks of life in germany, and I just loved the way you described the geranium situation! How fun!

[DJ]

AWWW...great shopping experience.
And how are you little treasures doing these days?